Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasized the importance of lawyers and the judiciary in shaping the country's legal system.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his gratitude to the legal fraternity for their substantial contribution to the country's independence movement and its continued progress. Addressing the 'International Lawyers' Conference 2023' at Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi, PM Modi emphasized the paramount role lawyers and the judiciary have played in shaping India's legal system and maintaining law and order.
“India completed 75 years of independence recently. In the fight for independence, the legal fraternity played a huge role. Many lawyers left their practice to join the independence movement,” Prime Minister Modi said.
“The legal fraternity plays a very important role in the building of any country. For years, the judiciary and Bar have been the patron of India's law and order,” he added.
Prime Minister Modi said his government is making sincere attempts to draft laws in a simple manner and in Indian languages to the maximum extent.
"We in the Indian government are thinking that law should be produced in two ways. One draft will be in the language you are used to," he said to the audience drawn from the legal field. "The second draft will be in a language which the country's common man can understand. He should consider the law his own."
The prime minister went on to highlight the traditional Indian practice of conflict resolution through Panchayats, which, he said, has been ingrained in the country's culture for decades.
To formalize this age-old system, the government recently enacted the Mediation Act, a move that aims to bring a regulated structure to the informal conflict resolution process.
“To give this informal arrangement a regulated form, the government has made Mediation Act,” he noted.
He also pointed out that the International Lawyers' Conference coincided with several historic developments in India, including the passage of the women's reservation bill and the successful landing of the Chandrayaan-3 mission on the south pole of the Moon.
“This conference is taking place during that period when India is taking several historic steps. Recently Women's Reservation Bill was passed in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam will give a new direction and energy to the ‘women-led development in India’,” he said.
PM Modi also reiterated the government's ambitious goal of transforming India into a developed nation by 2047, emphasizing the critical importance of an unbiased, strong, and independent judiciary in achieving this objective.
“We are working towards becoming a developed (nation) by 2047. For this, an unbiased, strong, and independent judiciary is needed... I am hoping that through this conference, we can all learn from each other.”
